After a six-year absence from eastern New Orleans, Walmart is buying land at I-10 and Bullard Avenue and plans to open an 180,000-square-foot store in the fall of 2013. The new store, on the site of the old Lakeland Medical Center at 6000 Bullard, will bring much-needed retail to the east, addressing a major obstacle for people who wanted to return.

Times-Picayune archiveWalmart has signed a purchase agreement for the former site of the Lakeland Medical Center, above in 2007.

It also addresses a huge inconvenience for the tens of thousands of residents who have returned east of the Industrial Canal. Residents had been relegated to shopping for groceries and general home products in Chalmette or even Metairie.

"It's a great day for east New Orleans," said Sylvia Scineaux-Richard, president of the East New Orleans Neighborhood Advisory Council. "It's bringing economic development to our community and provides jobs for people who live here. It's long overdue."

Tice White, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said his company has been looking since Hurricane Katrina for a location that would give customers better access than they had at the old Bundy Road location.

The company finally found it in the Bullard Avenue site. It signed a purchase agreement on the land Wednesday afternoon, he said.

"When we came back, we wanted to make sure all the elements were in place for a long-term store," White said.

The eastern New Orleans Walmart will not affect plans for a Walmart in the former Gentilly Woods plaza, because the company views eastern New Orleans and Gentilly as distinct markets.

It does, however, mean that Walmart will not open in the former Lake Forest Plaza shopping center. That option has been off the table for months, White said.

It also means Walmart is looking to unload the property at its old Bundy Road location, which it leased before Katrina and purchased after the storm.

The new store will also be bigger than the one Walmart had at 6901 Bundy Road, and it will employ 300 people, about 50 more than the Bundy Road store.

The sale of the Bullard Avenue property to Wal-Mart was cheered by local political leaders. Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the company's commitment to eastern New Orleans and Gentilly show "that it is a great community partner." Councilman Jon Johnson said, "The Wal-Mart Supercenter will immeasurably improve our quality of life."

Wal-Mart's White said the world's largest retailer remains committed to buying the Gentilly Woods Shopping Center from the state-authorized New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, in spite of news from the NORA board this month that the two sides are $400,000 apart in the sale negotiations.

If that issue is settled soon, as both sides hope, Orleans Parish could go from one Walmart, on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Lower Garden District, to three in the next two years. There are 102 Wal-Mart owned locations in Louisiana: 80 supercenters, six neighborhood markets, four discount stores, 12 Sam's Clubs and two distribution centers. Those locations employ a total of 35,000 associates.